Biohazard
by SilverStarShine94
Summary: How could one little plant cause so much trouble? KakaSaku. Written for the lovely moldycookies as part of the KakaSaku Holiday fic Exchange 2010.


**Biohazard**

* * *

...

...

Propped up on a rickety bed in the middle of Snow Country, Haruno Sakura felt relatively calm.

It was her first watch of the night and it wasn't due to be over for another hour or so, but there was hardly even a need for this; deep as they were in the depths of nowhere on the verge of being snowed in by the ferocious storm outside. Sakura wiggled her toes absently mindedly, checking the chipped nail polish that decorated the nails in a striking green colour. The thought of painting another coat crossed her mind before she glanced over at her quietly sleeping companion.

With his ridiculously strong sense of smell Kakashi would probably be awake like a shot, berating her for giving him a headache with the potent substance.

Sighing, she looked over at him again - smiling slightly when she took in the mussed strands of his hair just peeking out from beneath the multiple layers of blankets. Bright silver wires against the bright patchwork. Her legs were slung easily over his torso, back against the cool wall and bottom wedged between his body and the wall the bed was pressed up against. They had mutually agreed that they would share the bed. Given the tiny nature of the dwelling (translation; shitty little tumble-down shack) and the fact that there really wasn't any space between the bed, the fire, and the door for someone else to sleep on this was more of a necessity than anything else.

With nothing else to do, she began to pick through the few scrolls they had acquired on their trip here. The purpose of which was to learn of and, if possible, gather a small sample of a rare flower that apparently grew only at the foot of a mountain not far from their current base. Conditions this time of year were actually rumoured to be the most _favourable_, but looking out at the blizzard that raged behind their only, tiny window Sakura couldn't picture unfavourable.

This was the kind of thing she would normally have done herself, but Kakashi had been sent along with her to ease him back into duty. Broken ribs, injured lungs, fractured tibea and minor damage to the kidneys had been compounded by a vicious case of pneumonia that had kept him off of active duty for a full month - much to his disgust. This relatively easy, conflict low mission was just the kind of thing to ease him back into service, though he had pointedly told Tsunade otherwise.

That made a small smile tug at the corners of her mouth again as she felt the easy breathing of the body beneath her. The company was welcome, whatever the reason for his presence. They had gathered only a few scrolls despite a thorough search - this plant was close to myth even in its home region - and only one of the sources had any semblance of scientific research behind it.

The others... They were more like some kind of witch doctor's spells than anything else. Sakura half expected to see skulls and occult symbols sketched across the pages to go with the doom-laden warnings and heady promises of "unlocking pleasures beyond your wildest dreams. Kakashi had snorted at that, smirking behind his mask in a way that made the blush rush to her cheeks in a bloom of red.

Wrinkling her nose, she went back to the one scientific document they had been able to scrounge up. Placing a finger on the page of the notebook, she began to read by the flickering firelight - screwing her eyes up in protest to the faint light source.

_Has been known to have some hallucinogenic properties, as well as inflaming any existing mental problems, although further studies are needed to verify this._

The details of the initial research were followed by a first, unremarkable experiment that was poorly described and basically boiled down to 'further testing needed'. After that there were clearly a few missing pages: remnants of the paper were sticking up like jagged fragments of bone from the bindings. On one of the scraps wedged between one page and the next the word 'Failed' was scrawled with little else. The edge of something that might have been 'terminated' and half of a sentence written on a crumpled corner read 'much care must be taken in further experiments'.

After that an experiment labelled as the third followed a little more detailed analysis of the plant.

_Some pain-reducing properties have also been found, but these are accompanied by flu-like symptoms. Pollen is to be investigated as those working in unventilated conditions or who are frequently in rooms with the plant, but do not touch it are also experiencing side effects. _

_Experiment three - involving high concentrations of pollen solution ingested has proven to be the most successful. Broken bone was not felt - level 1 on ten level pain scale - and inflicting several large lacerations produced a similar result. Pos. replacement for opium and other pain relievers. (?) _

_Must devise way of reducing side effects, and do further testing. Participant has been showing flu-like symptoms for approx. fifteen minutes - onset almost immediately after ingestion of pollen solution. Pupils dilated, temperature several degrees above normal, skin pale, profuse perspiration - recurring symptoms. Subject reports feelings of euphoria and detachment from reality rather than pain or sickness - hallucination (?) - must go to check on participant on half an hour mark. Hopefully a repeat of last time won't occur._

And that was the end of it.

Space had been left for more writing and tables had been drawn up ready for new results, but no further entries were made in the small, hide bound ledger besides those. There was no mention of the aforementioned "last time" other than the final sentence and that didn't sit quite right with Sakura's logical mind. She considered convincing Kakashi into returning to the small, deathly quiet village in order to look for any records they may have missed.

She frowned down at the sketched picture of the plant - roughly coloured with splatters of faded watercolour. Thus far it was still formally unnamed.

Sakura was not entirely sure why it was so unknown - if it was rumoured to have the properties they had heard of then she wondered why it was only now that Iwa had come across it. From their sources within the country, though, the story had become even more muddled. No one seemed to know where this plant had come from - it wasn't found in Stone originally and they didn't even seem to know where they had gotten it from.

The most concrete story their spies had managed to come up with was that a famous Iwa military higher up had received it as an _anonymous gift_ from a 'mysterious' benefactor. Those were the words of the report, definitely not her own. Ninja did not use words like 'mysterious' in their official writings; it was usually substituted with suspicious, or unknown. To see something so steeped in superstition in a report actually unnerved her a little - outraged some part of her. Like seeing a profanity scrawled in brazen letters across the wall of a holy temple.

And then Oto had 'mysteriously' gotten a hold of the same plant. Obviously there was someone out there with a deep desire to see Konoha crumble.

She remembered their search around the area, and how everyone they asked seemed to have the same expression on their face when they heard what was being sought. The look in their eyes was one of a poorly concealed secret, but any probing was met with passive-aggressive resistance. Even then people still didn't seem to know much about the plant - the few comments they received were vague and reeked of third, fourth, and maybe even fifth hand information.

If this was a person they were tracking Sakura would have said that the trail had gone cold long ago.

Kakashi had just shrugged when she grumbled to her - rolling his strong shoulders in a way so casual it irritated her and then ruffling her hair like he always had done since she was a genin. 'Something will come up', he had said, coolly confident, and she had snorted in a way that was anything but ladylike. As usual, he was right and she had punched him in the arm for the smug smile he had given after her visit to a small local bookshop.

...

_"Do you have any records left regarding the... ah," Sakura paused, slightly unwilling to say the damn ridiculous nickname," Euphoros plant."_

_The same looked passed across the eyes of the man behind the counter that Sakura had come to hate - as though shutters had slid down behind his eyes and all emotion had been ironed out to leave only a vague suspicion. _

_"Records?" he parroted, mouth twisting as though he had tasted something unpleasant, "I have none."_

_At that point, Sakura wished that Kakashi had come with her instead of exploring a different lead. It always took longer for her to wheedle information than it did for him to, irritatingly enough. One, hard, dark stare from the silver haired nin often seemed to make people splutter whatever information they had quickly._

_"Do you mind if I have a look?" She asked, trying to keep her tone polite but probably failing miserably._

_The dark haired man seemed to mull that over - black brows furrowing until deep trenches formed between his small eyes. "There is no point. I have absolutely nothing regarding that... particular plant. No one around here will."_

_"Is there a reason for that?" Sakura half hissed, hands grasping the counter a little too tightly._

_He gave the same slow, rolling shrug Kakashi often used, unwilling to say anymore. Sakura stayed rooted where she was with her eyes fixed firmly on him. People in the countryside seemed to delight in taking as much time as possible and she was determined not to leave before she was sure this was another dead end._

_"If there's none around here," she continued," then where would I find some?"_

_For the first time that blank look lifted a little and there was a pause laden with promise. There was a slight spark of excitement - like a firefly in the midst of a pitch black cave - that shone in his small, black eyes that made anticipation surge up in her mind. This one definitely knew something and he was the kind that liked to pass on information. Just her luck._

_"There was a mining village out there, a few miles to the North of here - second turning from the Northern trail... must have been fifty years ago now. Sprang up overnight - the way some villages did during all that fuss over iron ore. It was fine for a while, good, but then it went bad," The shopkeeper said, voice laden with implications in a way that reminded her of horror stories with the sense of menace laid on a little too thick._

_"Went bad?" she pressed, undeterred by his ominous tone._

_"Yes," he stiffened slightly before relaxing and rubbing his head in a way so casual it seemed fake. It was like he enjoyed the next part because of the way she felt his eyes crawl across her face like dark black beetles, searching for signs of fear, "Everyone cleared out in the space of a month - some left, some just weren't there anymore. The... The ore vein they were working on probably ran out quicker than expected."_

_Sakura found she didn't quite believe him considering the way he trailed off, stuttering slightly. It didn't even look as though he was really trying to convince her of his lies. A slight spark of challenge showed behind his dull black eyes, mixed with the expression of muffled hostility. People around here really didn't seem to like foreigners - and she supposed they weren't very used to them either. It wasn't as though this was a tourist area._

_"And that town had records?" she asked._

_Another pause and she was getting tired of him laying it on so thick._

_"There were rumoured to be experiments with the plant out there. Some _foreigner_ swanned in and started mucking about, allegedly, and no one has touched anything up there since then. If there are records - your best bet is there," He said, shutters sliding back down behind his gaze again with the slight twist of his thin lips telling her that he found her eager expression wanting._

_He had probably expected fear, awe or something else entirely._

_"No one knows much about that old place though. You'll have to go there yourself, missy," he said, tone dismissive, turning back to the piles of books waiting to be sorted._

_She was never one to back down from a challenge and this was no exception._

_"Fine," Sakura shrugged easily, knowing he was watching her in the stained mirror hanging behind the counter, "Second left off the trail leading north, right?"_

_His eyes narrowed a fraction in the reflection and she was slightly tempted to push for more information, but by that point her patience had all but snapped. Sakura bowed sharply, almost mocking but not quite, and began to walk towards the door with purposeful steps. This was still the best lead they had had for the duration of the mission. Behind her she heard the dull thud of a book being dropped a little too heavily on a hard surface._

_"I wouldn't," he half-called, just as she pushed open the door, "but that's the way to go."_

_The cheery ting of the bell almost covered his words entirely, but the underlying tone made Sakura pause and look at him with a matching challenge glinting in her sparkling green eyes, "Why?"_

_He was unmoved, shutters firmly down once more, "I just wouldn't."_

_Exasperated, she slipped out into the snow with thoughts of a huge steaming mug of tea cutting across the tiny tingle of trepidation that wriggled in the back of her mind like a worm on a hook._

...

That had proven to be a turning point in the mission. They had found that town the next day with very little effort; it was right off the trail like the shopkeeper had said. Kakashi wasn't at all bothered by the ramshackle collection of hastily built wooden buildings with their eerily creaking shutters and desperate atmosphere of abandonment, but Sakura hadn't liked it one bit.

It wasn't so much the lonely, vaguely menacing look all long abandoned buildings had, but something else Sakura couldn't quite put her finger on. Even with the white snow that lay thick and undisturbed all around them the place just hadn't felt clean. That was a ridiculous thought, but she was glad that they had been able to search relatively quickly. It was in what was probably a makeshift medical station - judging by the peeling red cross on the door - that they had found what they were looking for.

As with all the other buildings it had been completely empty of people - dead or otherwise. Like the rest, there were no signs that anything had "gone bad" at all leaving Sakura to wonder if it was merely the harsh climate that had pushed everyone away.

In a small bedroom upstairs Sakura found the only real piece of research done on the plant. The only thing in that room was a desk and a small, stiff bed with the once white sheets still folded crisply back as though waiting for someone. A pen was left uncapped on the middle of the desk by the small notebook she now held in her hand as though the owner was just about to return to finish what they had been writing.

She had picked it up and thumbed through it with a broad smile on her face despite the feeling of foreboding that had lain coiled in the back of her mind like a snake. The book had lead them to one of the nearby mountains and the only place the small flowers grew. They had been remarkably vivid amongst the snow - sticking out like tiny splatters of blood in the midst of all the pristine snow. Kakashi had been the one to find them despite her greater experience in the field: his eyesight was far stronger than hers.

Now there was just a bit more cataloguing to do before they returned. If all went well this would be the last night in this frozen wasteland.

Glancing at the clock pinned haphazardly to the wall, Sakura realised that it was now her shift over. Smiling slightly, she peeled back the covers to reveal Kakashi's calm face smoothed in sleep. He began to shift instantly, but took a little longer rising to consciousness than he normally would have. Usually, he snapped into consciousness with enough force to make his head spin, she was sure.

"Already?" His voice sounded a little slurred, but that might just have been from residual tiredness.

There was something a little off, she mused, as she brushed the thick strands that had stuck to his forehead back in a ridiculously intimate gesture that she blamed on her own fatigue. A light sheen of sweat - glittering in the half-light when he turned to look blearily up at her - caught Sakura's attention. Instantly, her medic's sense pricked up. That didn't seem to be the healthy kind of perspiration that accompanied a good long run, or a comfortable nap under too-thick covers, or some strenuous, lung straining exercise... His skin felt clammy, moist, but yet cool in a way that was slightly worrying.

She watched as his skin drained of colour in slow motion as though someone had stabbed him and let it all run out.

It was as though Sakura could have followed the progress with her finger. She had never seen anything like it.

Normally, Kakashi sported a healthy tan that covered the few visible areas of his skin smoothly. Now, he looked as though someone had doused him in chalk dust. His breathing began to come shorter and shorter as though he was struggling to breath. Panicking, she thought that he might have covered up some relapse into pneumonia (because, really, who sent people recovering from a respiratory illness to such a harsh climate.)

"Kakashi-sensei, are you alright?" she said, stroking her hand over his skin while sending a chakra probe into his system.

He sat up in an abrupt move that had her tumbling into his lap in a heap of flustered kunoichi. The covers pooled at his waist revealing the warm, strong torso covered only in a fine mesh shirt that was now currently almost pressed against her face. Mumbling slightly, she began to shift back - cheeks a blazing cherry tomato red - any worry covered by irritation. He had probably faked the symptoms just to get some attention, a rise out of her.

The hungry look behind his dark half-lidded eye unnerved her more than she might have liked to admit when she drew back enough to see his face. Ignoring that look, and the swarm of butterflies that clattered against her ribs, she smiled tightly and looked away.

"Come on, if you're feeling that _invigorated_ I want the warm part of the bed," she snapped, a little more irritably than intended, still refusing to meet his gaze.

A warm, feverishly warm - ridiculously warm- hand clamped around her wrist and dragged her beneath him in a single fluid movement that left Sakura scrabbling amongst the many blankets for purchase. She bounced slightly on the soft mattress, the springs shrieking in protest at their abrupt shift in weight distribution, as she bore her teeth up at him in anger despite the sharp needle of fear that had pierced her thoughts.

"Gladly, "Kakashi said with an undertone of laughter that wasn't entirely like the kind she was used to, "but only if you'll join me."

"Sensei," she hissed, still squirming beneath his more substantial weight, "get off."

A phrase from the ledger they had acquired moved slickly to the front of her mind - _Hopefully a repeat of last time won't occur. _Something that flitted in his one visible eye - like a bird flying briefly over the sun - didn't quite sit right with her. She had never felt fear around Kakashi before, so the cool feeling of muted terror that crept into her chest was twice as alarming. Placing her hands lightly on his alarmingly warm chest (and carefully ignoring the feeling of the tense muscles beneath her fingers) she pushed lightly.

"Sensei. Let me up," Sakura said, voice quavering with anger that morphed quickly into worry when he only bore down harder," Let me go! _Letmego_."

Kakashi just lowered his head until his face was rested in the crook of her neck and the light stubble that had grown over the past few days scratched her sensitive skin. Sakura was feeling distinctly claustrophobic and quite frightened, but tried to reassure herself that this was just Kakashi's sense of humour and maybe it was a little more twisted with some kind of fever. She was torn between pushing him away and pulling him closer to try and determine what was wrong.

"Ahh, but I don't think you want me to let you go, Sakura," Kakashi half-growled, against her skin.

The feeling of his covered teeth scraping across her pulse point made her flinch - snapping what self restrain she had. Wriggling beneath him Sakura managed to get enough leverage to pull up her foot and give Kakashi a sound kick in the ribs. He fell backwards with a surprised exhalation - crashing into the back wall only a metre away and making the entire structure shake. Sakura expected him to laugh lightly at her fear and murmur that she was such a drama queen, that he was hurt she didn't trust her old, lecherous sensei more than that.

Instead he gave her a look that made heat jolt unexpectedly into her core while simultaneously sending a buzz of fear prickling along her spine. The silence that stretched between them was broken only by the howling of the storm outside. After a long moment, he broke the gaze between them and dragged his eyes down her body in a searing trail as though sizing her up. The medic in her noted how broken and harsh his breathing now sounded.

This wasn't the Kakashi she knew.

Her hands tightened around the sheets until the fabric creaked in protest at the mistreatment. For once her quick mind hand no answers as to what to do in this situation. Stay and fight. Stay and heal. Run and regroup. Just run. Just... She licked her lips and eased herself into a straighter sitting position - eyes fixed firmly on Kakashi. Her hands found the ledger amongst the sheets - her sweat slick fingers leaving prints on the porous leather.

"Kakashi..." she started, but he cut through her with a single word.

"_Run_,_" _he grunted, pulling himself up onto shuddering legs.

And she did.

...

Sakura found herself entrenched in snow in the middle of a blizzard miles from any kind of help. Snowflakes - thick and fine like a white avalanche of sand swirled everywhere reducing vision to the barest hint of shapes, real or imagined. The snow itself splattered against her visible skin - acres of pale leg, arm and face flesh to be prickled, burned and frozen with the icy substance that pelted her from all directions.

The sound of the wind was worse - it shrieked and scrabbled around her like a feral animal, snatching at her hair, biting at her already damp skin and sounding like every pained scream on the battlefield combined into something like all the hate and fear in the world. Besides the fear the lanced through her at the noise it also caused another problem; _she couldn't hear Kakashi._

Running from him was stupid really and any moment now he would appear from the white mass around her - visible eye crinkling as he ruffled her hair affectionately while teasing her about ever being afraid of him. Nothing happened and she was either going to stay here and freeze to death, or get caught by her very strangely acting sensei. Neither seemed like a good option, so running towards where she knew the forest was seemed like the most sensible option.

The trees were some shelter from the snow and the wind, but it only made the shadows worse. Shapes danced on the edges of her peripheral vision, and she was plagued with the sound of heavy breathing just by the nape of her neck at every turn. Unthinkingly, her fingers sought the vials in her medic's apron.

The small vials that met wobbling hand were filled with a pale greenish yellow preservative that held a section of root, two tiny leaves and three of the red and white flowers. The pattern on the dainty petals reminded her of the stereotypical colours of poisonous mushrooms, but she hadn't been able to detect any malevolent toxins within them during a cursory sweep. No records of the plant having poisonous properties had come up either.

"Funny how one little plant can cause so much trouble," Kakashi had murmured, twirling the flower idly between his forefinger and thumb before she had chastised him for touching it with uncovered fingers. She was always far more cautious around unexplored plant life.

Otogakure had been making one last furious set of attacks on Konoha even as the country crumbled from the inside out, and Iwa also attacked more and more frequent intervals. It was as though the intention now was not for Oto to survive in any capacity - rather to go out in some kind of hideous blaze of glory in which they intended to weaken the other shinobi countries as much as possible. Orochimaru apparently wasn't the only thing that was rotten in Sound - even without him malicious hatred spread like a disease.

Normally, this wouldn't have been too great of a problem. They were strong enough and had enough allies to fend off any attacks from the slowly weakening Sound, and they had successfully fended off Iwa for generations. However, the teams they sent weren't exactly normal. They were, in fact, _completely_ impervious to pain. Anything from a paper cut to severed limbs were shrugged off. Sakura herself had seen a man with only one functioning arm dragging his own body, mutilated beyond recognition, across the battlefield with a smile that would have been perfectly cheerful in any other situation. Another man - with a kunai sticking out of his skull like some freakish headwear - had continued to slash his way through several Konoha nin until it was clear that too many nerves had been severed in his brain by the jostling of the metal lodged in his head.

Even then he had remained alive - features still moving furiously to form curses, limbs jerking as he attempted to rein in his rebellious body. Severing the head was the only way to kill people in these squads it would seem.

They made one hell of a kamikaze squad.

Sakura frowned, pinching the bridge of her nose with her free hand and breathing deeply. And now Kakashi seemed to be showing the same symptoms. He hadn't so much as flinched when she had booted his still healing chest. Even a high experienced shinobi would show the tiniest flicker of pain at that and even as highly attuned to his emotions as she was, Sakura hadn't seen anything other than the expected rush of air being forced from his lungs.

Forcibly ignoring the dull ache in her sock clad feet, Sakura dug in her heels and propelled herself faster across the frozen wasteland. That didn't bode well if he caught up with her.

...

Casting one last worried glance over her shoulder, Sakura slipped into the old building only made clearly recognisable by the brazen red cross. She did not deliberately head towards the old town - it wasn't as though it made her feel safe - but any shelter from the horrific weather was practically a necessity now. Her icy cold fingers fumbled with the rusty locks on the door even though she knew they would delay Kakashi for less than a minute.

Rubbing her hands together, Sakura allowed the use slightest amount of chakra to heat them. She was afraid to use any more than that just in case Kakashi could feel it and hone in on her signature. She did not want to underestimate his formidable tracking skills.

Turning, one of her soaked, cold numbed feet caught something on the floor.

She tumbled to the ground with an unladylike grunt in an ungainly crumple of limbs and furniture that did not befit her status as a shinobi at all. Pain lanced up her shin where several pieces of wood had managed to pierce even the thick layers of several pairs of soaked wool socks. Beneath one hand, the tinkle of glass shards scraping together alerted her to the shattered vial she had previously been holding in her hand.

Gasping, Sakura backpedalled frantically when she felt the pollen-thick air travel into her lungs causing her to hack and cough several times before she could stop herself. It burned hot and thick down her throat - tasting like sand and making her tongue feel heavy and sluggish. For a moment she crouched there, waiting for the flu-like symptoms, waiting for some sign of Kakashi finding her from the noise she had made.

Nothing happened.

Sakura lifted her hand and felt that she wasn't shaking in the slightest and didn't feel any change in her entire body to indicate that the pollen was having any effect. Cautiously, she straightened and got to her feet - eyes still darting from side to side like a trapped animal. The darkness in here was the absolute, thick blackness that presses inwards and fills all of the senses with heaving dusty dryness. Even the slightest crunch of the debris around her made her spine stiffen.

She moved forward and slid her hand across the floor to try and identify what she had tripped on. Her cold fingers bumped against a carved wood handle that was sticking up at an awkward angle, probably from her tripping on it. In this part of the world, underground storage was very popular. Turning her attention back to the most recent problem, Sakura bit her full lower lip and tried to force her jumbled thoughts into some semblance of order.

She could use her chakra to flush the pollen out of her system _just in case_, but Kakashi was more attuned to her chakra signature than almost anyone else and he would surely be able to pinpoint her if she used her chakra for that prolonged period. If he hadn't found her already. Chewing her bottom lip, Sakura decided to move out of that house because staying on one place just didn't seem like a good idea at the moment.

Then she felt an unmistakeable pulse of his chakra - terrifyingly close - and the only thing she could think of doing was to grasp the handle of the trapdoor, lift it, and lower her into the tiny cramped space. Almost the moment after the door had been lowered to its original position Sakura heard the rattling of the doorknob - Kakashi wasn't even trying to disguise himself. His chakra spread into the room like a thick, muggy fog, making her feel dizzy with the latent power.

Above her there was the faint sound of footsteps that were so soft and light it was almost as though she had imagined them. There was a pregnant pause followed by a deep inhalation of air, as though he was trying to sniff her out. After another few seconds she felt, rather than heard the vibrations of his soft tread ascending the stairs. Waiting as long as she dared, Sakura lightly pushed up the trapdoor and peered out into the inky blackness.

A hand clamped around her own - despite the lack of light he had found her unerringly. Struggling, Sakura only succeeded in banging her already injured legs against the sides of the enclosed space and getting several splinters embedded in the delicate skin of her inner arm.

"Got you," Kakashi grunted, voice amused despite how laboured his breathing sounded," you know... you really shouldn't use scented shampoo."

He pinned her to the floor expertly, though she managed to get a decent kick to what she thought was his thigh. The feeling of bones cracking beneath her attacks was usually a satisfying one, but Kakashi didn't let out so much as a hiss of pain. A small wave of guilt brushed the edges of her thoughts for attacking her teacher. That quickly ebbed when he pressed her so hard into the broken fragments of floor that she began to see stars.

His chakra flickered so erratically that she wondered how she had managed to miss him waiting for her at all while the ever active section of her mind devoted to facts noted his reactions, his pulse rate, his chakra signature. Cool, _bare_ lips pressed to the nape of her neck as he shifted her hair to the side. Some part of her wished that it wasn't so dark so that she could see him; another was screaming at her to escape.

"Kakashi," Sakura gasped, voice coloured with anger and pain as fragments of glass on the floor pierced her skin," why are you doing this?"

Her hands were pressed together - back to back so she had no hope in hell of being able to do hand signs - before they were tied tightly. His movements were so deft and sure it was like he could see in the pitch black. There was a faint click of teeth as though he had opened his mouth to answer and then closed it again abruptly. A warm hand slid beneath her body and began to pull roughly at the zipper that held her top together.

She thrashed even harder against his weight and her bonds when his hands, warmer in contrast to the ice cold lips that continually skimmed the back of her neck, began to fumble with the many layers she had worn to keep warm.

"Looking underneath the underneath," he said, with a smile she could feel against her skin.

"_Sensei_," her panicked shriek had some effect because his hand froze.

Kakashi's entire body went rigid before he threw himself off of her. A rush of cool air accompanied the movement that brushed against her exposed skin and reminded Sakura of just how she must look at that moment; bound and half clothed on the filthy floor. She jerked backwards, pulling at the bonds that held her hands and feeling the rope strain and snap under the pressure. Her heart was beating against her ribcage like a caged bird, and she could still feel the dry dusty pollen coating the back of her throat.

"Sakura..." Kakashi's voice sounded shaky for the first time, and much further away than he had sounded previously, "get away from here."

Tsunade would probably be ashamed by how quickly Sakura scrambled to her feet and ran.

...

Sakura barely paused to straighten her clothes as she pelted outside, leaving Kakashi and a lump of shredded rope behind. Her body ached all over, but the harsh sting of fear, shame, guilt and worry that bubbled up was far more painful.

With the intention of getting her supplies, she slipped back inside the small shack after a quick scan of the chakra in the area.

There had been nothing about this in the ledger - nothing that could explain Kakashi's strange behaviour other than the ominous; _hopefully a repeat of last time won't occur_. In her panic, she did not even think of flushing the pollen that still lingered in her system. After a few minutes of silence while she quickly, and sloppily, stuffed supplies into her backpack the door unexpectedly creaked open. Snapping her head around so quickly her neck ached in protest Sakura stared, horrified, as Kakashi walked casually into the room - taking the time to close the door carefully behind him. His mask was firmly in place.

She could barely breathe because of the lump in her throat, hands quivering against the rough canvas of her bag.

"Sakura?" Kakashi said, voice inquisitive and a little hoarse, but nothing else.

In this tiny space there was barely a step between them and he closed it in one smooth stride despite the slight hitch she saw caused by his injured leg. Sakura stayed stock-still - watching him with a dry mouth and hammering pulse. He put a large calloused hand to her forehead and she had to restrain herself from flinching away from the familiar contact. Kakashi saw her pupils contract sharply and he frowned tightly in a way that made the fine lines between his eyes deepen into trenches. "Are you alright? What the hell happened?"

Sakura searched his eyes frantically - finding nothing in the depths of the mismatched orbs but worry and confusion. _What the hell was going on? _One minute he was chasing her, howling for blood, then pushing her away, and the next... She tried to swallow the kunai sized lump in her throat and stamp down the hysterical fear that was bubbling up like a rush of boiling hot water, scalding her insides.

"I'm fine!" She exclaimed, hearing her voice crack and wincing as he moved a little closer.

Although, now that she thought about it she did feel rushes of icy chill and burning warmth flushing through her system that had nothing to do with the mind-numbing fear she had felt seconds prior and still felt tingling across her skin like thousands of nails scraping across the surface. Instead, there was a closeness that had begun to creep up on her - swallowing her fears inch by inch. A slight darkness that began encroaching on the edges of her vision.

She took a deep shuddering breath, and - suddenly - Kakashi's scent became a thousand times more inviting. The strong outline of his jaw and neck, and rush of blood just beneath the surface, a temptation. Her breathing hitched and he looked even more concerned.

"Are you sure? - You look pale."

...

...

* * *

For the lovely Moldy as my contribution for the KakaSaku lj Exchange. Something with "Dark!Kakashi" was requested and this happened. Don't ask me how. Maybe I've been inhaling some crazy plant pollen as well. Damn _nature_.

Thanks for reading,

Silver ~ x


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